May Poll Results : When it comes to coupons, the offer you're most
likely to respond to is: (152 responses) :
41% - % off
26% - $ off
29% - Buy one, get one
3% - Free estimate, gift, etc.
1% - Time sensitive
Answer this month's poll question : I
believe Twitter is a powerful marketing tool...
Eight Legs of a Web Site : Core Elements of
a Web Site That Works
By Drew Zagorski
May 2009
Click
Here for printable PDF Version.
 Site
builder tools. They're great and they've made having a web site affordable
and easy to build (some of them, anyway) for countless professionals
and businesses. And if you cruise the web for a bit, it won't take you
long to spot someone who has done the 'affordable and easy to build'
thing… attempted to cobble together a web site. I did a search
for a plumber in a certain city and came across a 'Joe the Plumber' web
site…
I've blocked out the city name, website and phone numbers to protect
the innocent.
As you can see, Joe's web site was certainly affordable - he likely
didn't engage any help from anyone in building it. Affordable, yes. But
at what cost?
And it was probably 'easy to build,' though I bet Joe spent the better
part of a day putting it together. How many hours and at what billable
rate?
Now don't get me wrong. Site builders and template sites are the right
solution for many people and businesses, but if the site doesn't have
the core elements that will make it stand up, it's almost better to have
no web site at all.
Here are the nine core elements every web site should have behind it…
Using the right words will help to engage, entertain, educate, and most
importantly, persuade visitors to your site to do business with you.
Your story needs to be about them, not you. Take a look at Joe's copy
(below to the right).
 Earnest,
certainly. But as you read it, it almost sounds desperate. It's all about
Joe and has nothing to do with you resolving your needs. And lastly,
even though it's all about Joe, it does nothing at all to differentiate
Joe from any other plumber. He's not telling us anything that any other
plumber would tell us.
Remember that the words you put on the page will have a positive or
negative impact on the reader. Take the time to get your story right
and make it about your audience rather than yourself. Make it emotional
(yes, plumbing can be emotional!). Use your story to differentiate yourself
up front and put all the 'table stakes' language (experience, great service,
quality, etc.) in it's appropriate place - in a side bar, at the bottom
of the page or in on an About page.
Read your web site copy and ask the following questions to yourself:
- Does my copy talk more about me than my audience?
- Could my web copy apply to anyone who does what I do/sells what I
sell?
- Have I differentiated myself at all (while keeping the focus on the
audience)?
- If you answered Yes, Yes and No, you need to rework your content.
Well Designed
OK, so templated, site-builder sites handle the design of the site for
you. But, if you choose a bad layout or attempt to do things with the
layout because you know 'enough HTML' to be dangerous, odds are you'll
cause problems with the site's design.
 Take
a look at three specific areas of Joe's site… The header is out
of alignment; the body content is not balanced well; and the footer is
a jumbled mess. Is this how Joe will handle your leaky pipes?
 Keep
the design clean and don't try to mess with the code that your site builder
give you access to, unless you've got the help of someone who really
knows what they're doing. You don't want a plumber building your web
site, right? Think about the content on the page and keep your main content
in the center of the page.
 Keep
your site and the number of pages within the limits of what your site
builder allows. And if you're working with a web designer or agency to
build a custom site, make sure you've got them lined up (or another web
design pro) to handle the ongoing maintenance.
SEO is king when it comes to people finding you. Make sure your site
is well optimized for search engines. Do your keyword research with tools
such as Google's AdWords Keyword tool or Wordtracker. Don't rely on what
you believe your keywords should be. You're too close to your business
and think of it in technical terms. Keyword tools do a pretty good job
of showing you what words and phrases people actually use to find. Make
sure you've got your title, keyword and description tags dialed in. Most
site builder tools will allow you to edit at least these three tags.
And use your footer to include key words and geography information -
if it's relevant and doesn't abuse good form this is a great optimization
tool.
Solve It, Don't Sell It
I don't know many folks who enjoy having a high pressure sales pitch
in their face. Going too far in the direction of selling your wares can
turn a lot of people off. Just go to http://www.shamwow.com and you'll
get the idea. Show your audience in your story that you understand them,
their need and that you have a solution for them. Take a look at http://www.microfibergreen.com.
It's essentially the same product as Shamwow, but a very different approach
to how the story is delivered.
Shamwow puts the gun to your head. MicrofiberGreen actually communicates
with you to illustrate they understand what's important (eco-friendly)
and educate (they also have an FAQ page). If you're like most people,
you'll be more receptive to the MicrofiberGreen page because it's not
a force-fed message.
Remember: The purpose is to engage, educate, entertain and persuade.
If you do these things, you'll show that you can solve the problem for
your audience, so the selling comes more naturally.
Dumb It Down
You're an expert at what you do. Your audience isn't. Telling your story
in overly technical terms, chock full of industry specific language and
a flood of statistics and other data will either bore or turn off your
audience, or worse, make them feel dumb. So dumb it down and put things
in 'layman's' terms so anyone will easily understand what it is you have
to say. That said, you can include your techno-speak if it really makes
you feel validated, but put it in an appropriate, well-labeled place
(for instance, a page named Technical Specifications).
Dumb It Down II
If there's no alternative to using technical terms, provide link to
a glossary or put the definition in parenthesis right next to the term.
The better of the two is a link as you can make the term an in context
link, which will be beneficial for search engine optimization purposes.
Intuitive Navigation
So you've got 16 pages of content. Don't make all of them top level
navigation items. Try to keep you top level navigation to 5 to 8 items.
Then place the other content under those top levels. Use the top of the
page and the side, either left or right of the content. Whenever possible
use text navigation, versus graphics as this will help the SEO cause.
So, in this example, of the 16 pages, you can set 8 as top navigation
across the header of your page and place all of them along the side navigation.
Also, include a site map page, especially if you have lots of content.
It's a good SEO strategy and a lot of people will appreciate the ability
to navigate with that tool.
Make the Connection
Guess what? Joe did do something right with his site… It's no
problem finding his phone number as it's at the top and bottom of every
page, big and bold. If you've gone to the trouble of building content
that connects with your audience, putting a great design in place and
crafting navigation that makes it easy for visitors to get around, you're
totally dropping the ball if they can't figure out how to contact you.
Make it as easy for them as possible. Put your email and phone number
in your header and footer. Include address information in the footer
and use the space under the side navigation to include your complete
contact information as well. And, include your phone number in a call
to action. These elements should be on every page. There's no excuse
for missing an opportunity because someone couldn't find your phone number
or email address.
A note about email links versus forms… My take on this is that
it's a toss of a coin. Most web site owners I know rarely get inquiries
from an email form or link that comes from their web site. More often
than not, if a visitor is interested, they'll call you. Some have made
the argument that they don't want their email address on the site because
of spammers. It's true that spammers abuse email links, but they also
are savvy enough to also hit web contact forms, so there's no real safe
haven. Set up an info@ address if you can and use that for your email
contact.
Your First and Only Impression
People are busier than ever and don't have a whole lot of time to do
deep exploration when it comes to the web. When they visit or land on
your site it's often the first and only impression you make on them.
If it's poorly built and written, like Joe's site, the odds are you'll
quickly click on to the next site. Take the time to put the right legs
on your web site and look at it as an investment rather than something
you can do 'quick and dirty.' Your ability to capture new business depends
on it.
Drew Zagorski is the Principal of LeftBrainRightBrain
Marketing. You can reach him at drew@lbrbmarketing.com.
LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing © Copyright 2009. All rights reserved
Call LeftBrainRightBrain
today at 503.629.8674 and do the logically creative thing to move your
business to the head of the pack! |
|